Chapter 16: Panic
—CELIA—
"I know you hate ," I added, letting my voice break perfectly at the edges. "But I beg you... please do not hurt . I am already willing to let you go as you wished!"
The mont the words left my mouth, my voice echoed beautifully through the corridor.
Loudly enough to awaken ancestral spirits, probably.
And imdiately, footsteps rang from every direction as nearby servants froze in horror before rushing toward us all at once. A maid carrying folded linens nearly dropped everything. Another servant gasped so loudly I almost turned around to comfort her myself.
Oh.
Maybe I overdid it.
But in my defense, survival required commitnt.
And I was committed.
"My lady!"
"What happened?!"
"Your Grace–!"
The corridor erupted instantly. Servants gathered from both ends, all staring at the scene in visible alarm.
Which, admittedly, looked very bad.
There I was, cornered near the wall with slightly trembling shoulders and visibly emotional eyes while Duke Sebastian stood directly in front of looking tense and guilty.
Wow.
From this angle, this truly resembled the beginning of a scandal.
I almost wanted to complint myself.
Almost.
More importantly, for the first ti since this conversation started, Duke Sebastian looked genuinely panicked.
His eyes widened slightly as he looked around at the gathering servants, clearly realizing exactly how disastrous this situation appeared.
’Witnesses are society’s greatest defense chanism,’ I thought solemnly.
One older maid hurried toward with horror written all over her face. "Lady Aria! Are you hard?"
Before I could answer dramatically, Sebastian imdiately released my arm and stepped back.
Ah.
There it is.
’Yes,’ I thought. ’Good. Now leave. Reflect upon your actions. We all grow as people.’
But instead, he looked at and sothing shifted.
The tension in his expression cracked entirely, and he looked guilty.
Wait.
What?
Before I could process that horrifying developnt, he suddenly moved toward .
And then wrapped his arms around .
My soul exited my body imdiately.
I froze so completely that even my thoughts stopped functioning.
This cold, dignified, emotionally challenged male lead...
Had just hugged publicly.
In front of servants, without warning.
What in the badly written alternate route was this?
For several long seconds, I genuinely forgot how to behave like a human being. I just stood there trapped in complete disbelief while one of his hands rested carefully against the back of my head and the other held securely against him.
"It is enough," he said quietly.
His voice had changed completely.
Gone was the irritation from earlier.
Gone was the childish offense.
Now he sounded... gentle.
"I was not going to harm you," he said softly.
I stared blankly at his chest.
’WHY ARE YOU COMFORTING ?!’ my mind scread. ’THIS WAS NOT PART OF THE PLAN!’
The servants around us looked equally traumatized.
One maid quietly covered her mouth with both hands like she was witnessing forbidden romance.
Another looked ready to write this entire event into her diary later.
anwhile, I remained imprisoned inside a public embrace I had absolutely not consented to.
"...Your Grace?" I managed weakly.
Honestly, I deserved praise for even forming words.
He let out a quiet breath.
"You are trembling," he murmured.
’I am trembling because nothing makes sense anymore and I am getting mad!!!’ I thought hysterically.
But I lowered my gaze slightly and continued my fragile noblewoman performance with professional dedication.
"I did not intend to frighten you," he continued.
His hand lightly brushed my hair in an attempt to soothe .
Soothe .
.
I nearly ascended spiritually.
’This man has lost his mind,’ I thought firmly. ’That is the only explanation available.’
One servant cautiously stepped forward. "Should we summon the physician for Lady Aria?"
"No," Sebastian answered imdiately. "She is fine."
Excuse ?
I would personally like to disagree.
Because I was experiencing seventeen different forms of panic simultaneously.
The older maid looked unconvinced but slowly stepped back anyway, probably deciding this situation involved too much nobility for safe participation.
Sebastian finally loosened his hold slightly, enough for to breathe properly again, though not enough to completely let go.
Which sohow made this even worse.
I cautiously looked up at him.
Terrible mistake.
Because now I could clearly see the concern in his eyes.
My stomach dropped imdiately.
No.
No no no.
This was not allowed.
This was absolutely against the script.
The original novel made it very clear that Duke Sebastian disliked Aria deeply after witnessing her bully the heroine repeatedly.
That was one of the major reasons their relationship completely collapsed in the story.
Sebastian hated cruelty.
Especially toward soone weaker.
And Sir Matthias Sinclair was even worse. He beca openly hostile toward Aria after several incidents involving the heroine. The original Aria practically collected enemies like limited edition rchandise.
But now that I thought about it carefully...
Wait.
...Hold on.
A horrifying realization suddenly crashed into so hard that I nearly stopped breathing.
Perhaps...
Perhaps they had not even t the heroine yet.
My eyes widened.
Oh my gosh.
I straightened imdiately, my mind beginning to race at terrifying speed.
No wonder everything felt wrong.
No wonder Sebastian looked irritated instead of disgusted.
No wonder Matthias seed confused every ti he looked at instead of outright hostile.
Because the catalyst had not happened yet.
The original story had not properly started yet.
I felt my scalp go cold.
"...I’m early."
That explained everything.
In the novel, the heroine entered high society after moving into the capital under Duke Valen’s guardianship. She was the duke’s niece from a distant branch family, poor but beautiful, kind, humble, and basically designed by my sister to emotionally destroy every male lead in a five-mile radius.
Cynthia.
The sweet, tragic, beloved Cynthia.
The human embodint of sparkles.
And according to the original plot, Aria imdiately hated her.
Because of jealousy and insecurity.
And apparently severe psychological instability.
The original Aria spent half the novel bullying that poor girl while the male leads gradually fell in love with Cynthia and started despising Aria more and more until eventually she was...
Executed..
But if Sebastian and Matthias had not even t Cynthia yet...
Then that ant...
I still have ti before the plot fully locked into place.
Ti before the heroine appeared.
Ti before the male leads ford their emotional attachnts and started their collective "Protect Cynthia From Aria" organization.
I suddenly understood why everything felt slightly off.
I see that now. If that is the case, I will make sure I make a good impression towards the male leads and avoid every necessary event that would trigger the plot.
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